Make Your Own Ornaments

[leasmom]

Which do you prefer? Do you prefer some store bought or all homemade???

[momofjems]

Cinnamon Christmas Ornaments

Equal amounts of cinnamon and applesauce. Knead together and roll out. Poke a hole in the top big enough to put ribbon or thread through. Lay out to dry. You may need to turn over so both sides can dry. You can add cinnamon candies for facial features, buttons, etc. whatever makes you happy.

DO NOT LET CHILDREN EAT!!!

It's hot, so you may need to wear gloves.

They smell so good! My mother in law made them once for a fund raiser, she put one in her car, it smelled so good!

[bettdev]

I made some of those cinnamon ornaments years ago. They were so easy, and lasted a long time. I gave them out as gifts, too!

.........only thing about them, is that they take ALOT of cinnamon. Buy marked down packages when you can during the year, to defray the cost.

[leasmom]

I could get some there and use that, right?

I think today I may try to make some ornaments using either Baker's Clay or Cornstarch Ornaments.


Corn Starch Cookie Cutter Christmas Ornaments
You will need:
1 cup Corn Starch
2 cups baking soda
1 1/2 cups water
In a large saucepan mix corn starch and baking soda. Add water and stir until smooth. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture is the consistency of slightly dry mashed potatoes. Remove from heat and cover with a damp cloth. When cool enough to handle, coat hands and surface lightly with corn starch and knead until dough is smooth and pliable.

Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness and cut with holiday cookie cutters. To dry, place on a baking sheet in a 250 degree oven for 20-30 minutes or until hard. For best results, allow to cool and brush loose powder off ornaments before painting. Makes about 16-20 ornaments.

And, Baker's Clay is...

Makes 5 cups of dough
Ingredients


4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup salt
1 1/2 cups water


Directions
1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2 Mix the flour, salt and water. Knead dough until smooth. Roll out dough and cut into desired shapes. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour. Once cool paint with colors, if desired.

I can't wait to try these...I don't have any cookie cutters though, but will use my biscuit cutter instead, just to try it.

[bettdev]

Can you use cinnamon at say, the dollar store? I could get some there and use that, right?

Leasmom- Sure can........that's what I do. Don't know what cinnamon costs at most stores, but you can get it at Walgreens sometimes for 3/ $1.00.

[leasmom]

Maybe later when dd is home we'll make them. I'm sure she'd love to help me.

[LJsmom]

I saw this once in a Lillian Vernon type catalog. They were charging probably 5-$6 (plus s&h) and mine were practically free.

Found a dinged ball from dh's golf bag spray painted it gold and screwed a small eye screw in the top. Green ribbon through the screw for hanging then got small red premade bows (or make your own- but I'm not that handy). Kind of tie them around the screw part to hide it TA-DAH !

These look so pretty hanging on the tree too. My dad got a hole in one a couple years back so that year I made him one and with fine tip perm. marker wrote the important info on the ball to make it extra special.

[leasmom]

I took some toys and used them as ornaments.

I would like to order these ornaments off of this website, they have some great supplies or already painted ornaments...

http://www.factorydirectcraft.com/

They have a minature Baseball that would be perfect for my t-ball dd. I wish they had a cheerleading one...they have a few others I'm going to order. I'm going to take the sleds they have and put a hook on it. I like interesting ornaments, each one unique on their own...

[momofjems]

Originally posted by leasmom
Maybe later when dd is home we'll make them. I'm sure she'd love to help me.

That will be a fun mother/daughter project! You can use the cheapest cinnamon and applesauce. One year my cub scouts made them at the church, the room we did it in smelled so good!
I would do some price checking first before I do a big batch of them. And remember have her wash her hands afterwards, or before she rubs her eyes. It would be a fun gift for her teachers.

[bettdev]

..........If you want to get really creative, you can shape these like you would bread dough figurines.....and they last forever!